If you can tell me where Colin Powell stands on healthcare issues, poverty issues, tax issues, environmental issues, education issues, etc. -- and then say "I agree with most of these stances, and that's why I'd vote for him" -- then I'd say you've still got some credibility left.

If you can't tell me where Powell is, though, on all this stuff...well...then that tells me that you would just vote for him because (a) he's a Republican and you're a knee-jerk voter for Republicans; (b) he's Black, and you're eager to "prove" you're not racist by claiming you'd vote for a Black man; or (c) he's both a Republican and he's Black, and you're a knee-jerk voter for Republicans who would love to be able to say that he voted for a Black man.

The poet e.e.cummings (himself a bit of a bigot, particularly toward Jews) once said, "To like a fellow just because he's black is just as bad as to not like him because he isn't white."

Translation: Voting for Powell because he's black is just as bad (i.e. just as racist) as to not vote for him because he's black.

You mean cummings? Yeah, he did. In his nonfiction prose, he wrote fairly conventionally. And I actually think this was a statement made, that someone else recorded (quoting him) -- so it was recorded conventionally. Thanks for asking though.

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If you can tell me where Colin Powell stands on healthcare issues, poverty issues, tax issues, environmental issues, education issues, etc. -- and then say "I agree with most of these stances, and that's why I'd vote for him" -- then I'd say you've still got some credibility left.

If you can't tell me where Powell is, though, on all this stuff...well...then that tells me that you would just vote for him because (a) he's a Republican and you're a knee-jerk voter for Republicans; (b) he's Black, and you're eager to "prove" you're not racist by claiming you'd vote for a Black man; or (c) he's both a Republican and he's Black, and you're a knee-jerk voter for Republicans who would love to be able to say that he voted for a Black man.

The poet e.e.cummings (himself a bit of a bigot, particularly toward Jews) once said, "To like a fellow just because he's black is just as bad as to not like him because he isn't white."

Translation: Voting for Powell because he's black is just as bad (i.e. just as racist) as to not vote for him because he's black.

If you're asking me, I have no idea. I'm not the one who said I'd vote for him -- and I tend to investigate only the stances of candidates who are actually running for office. I also tend to avoid saying I'll "vote for someone in a heartbeat" without knowing what they stand for.

Ok LitDoc let me rephrase that. I think Colin Powell would be a solid candidate. I would not vote for him just because he was black or just because he was a Republican. His past, I would think would lean him towards the way of education reform and community programs. He was brought up the product of Jamiacan Immigrants in Harlem, and I would hope that he would try to make changes based on his past to help the future.